Capital Currents
41 articles
Capital Currents
Premium
PEACE PROCESS UNDER SYRIA’S SHADOW
The expected has happened. The “new peace process,” now more than a year old, has fallen under the shadow of Syria. Map-altering clashes between the new Damascus government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose backbone is formed by Kurds, have driven a wedge between the AKP-MHP ruling bloc and the DEM Party in Turkey.
Capital Currents
Premium
OPPOSITION NATIONALISTS: PROSPECT OF A COMMON FRONT
Is cooperation among nationalist parties possible? What are the prospects and obstacles? Turkish politics has been polarized into two main blocs since the transition to the presidential system: the AKP on one side and the CHP on the other. While the AKP kept parties like the MHP, BBP, and HÜDA-Par in its orbit, the CHP advanced by forging open or tacit alliances with the DEM Party and İYİ Party. But this opposition front collapsed after the defeat in the 2023 elections.
Capital Currents
Premium
CAN THIS PARLIAMENT DELIVER A NEW CONSTITUTION?
The AKP’s desire for a new constitution has become something of a political legend—talked about endlessly since it came to power in 2002, but never completed.
Capital Currents
DISARMAMENT DELAYS COULD DERAIL DEM PARTY CONGRESS PLANS
The PKK’s disarmament, which has now stretched beyond a year and a half, has stalled at precisely the most critical stage — the point at which the state is expected to take action. Unless the government softens its precondition that “the disarmament process must first be fully completed,” the expected legal steps will likely be postponed until the new legislative year in October. The risks posed by delay are being discussed and meanwhile it also appears set to derail the transformation plans of the DEM Party, which has already started the countdown to a congress.
Capital Currents
TWO MOST CHALLENGING PILLARS OF PEACE PROCESS
The Terror-Free Turkey process, widely dubbed as frozen or stalled, has been revived by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s latest remarks. Erdoğan said the process, now entering its 18th month, has reached a critical juncture requiring much more delicate management: “There is a positive atmosphere. What needs to be done is clear. The process is proceeding as it should.”
Capital Currents
ERDOĞAN’S ELECTION PLAN
The CHP is seeking to win power but is trying to do politics while caught in a major judicial clampdown. Operations target municipalities on one front, and the threat of an “absolute nullity” ruling persists against the party center.
Capital Currents
NOT A QUORUM CRISIS, BUT A SYSTEMIC ONE
“The opposition called for a quorum check, and when the required majority was not met, parliament was adjourned.” In recent months, this recurring news in parliament is not merely a simple quorum crisis. Behind it lie both structural problems inherent in the presidential system and the power struggle between the government and the opposition, spilling into parliamentary proceedings.
Capital Currents
A SILENT STORM WITHIN THE MHP
Imagine an organized crime network, protected and fed by political connections that it steadily expands.
Capital Currents
CHP MOVES TO A NEW PHASE: POSITIVE PROPAGANDA
The main opposition, the CHP, has had a tough year of operations targeting its municipalities and lawsuits against its party congress. According to party officials, the appointment of Akın Gürlek — who oversaw the municipal investigations — as justice minister signals that the road to elections may become even more challenging.
Capital Currents
FIVE-PARTY ROADMAP SETS STAGE; ALL EYES ON ANKARA FOR NEXT MOVE
The “process report” that charts the roadmap for Parliament toward solving the Kurdish question has been finalized. The document did not push the limits of the AKP and MHP too far; it received a cautious “hopeful” endorsement from the CHP on the grounds that accepted democratic demands “must not remain mere words on paper”; the DEM Party deemed it “better than nothing” despite its shortcomings; and the Yeni Yol group welcomed with a familiar “not enough, but yes.”
Capital Currents
AKP’S ELECTION BILLS ON THE WAY
With the “Terror-Free Turkey” process on one hand and the row over operations targeting CHP-run municipalities on the other, it’s easy to forget that the country’s main problem is deepening poverty and social decay.
Capital Currents
SHADOW OF SYRIA OVER TURKEY’S PEACE PROCESS
Following the PKK’s decision to lay down arms, the newly launched “peace process” has become tangled up in tensions over Syria. The military operation by the Damascus regime that pushed the SDF/YPG out of two Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo has strained relations between the AKP–MHP alliance and the DEM Party, ending a cautious rapprochement as part of the process. It has also disrupted a positive atmosphere that had lasted for nearly a year, raising fresh doubts about the prospects of success.